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Cindy Mushet has been an pastry chef, culinary instructor and award-winning author for over 20 years. She began her career at the famed Chez Panisse in Berkeley, and went on to head pastry kitchens in restaurants and bakeries across California, from Napa Valley to San Diego.  She is currently a Chef-Instructor of Patisserie and Baking at the California School of Culinary Arts (Le Cordon Bleu) in Pasadena, California.  She has also taught at the Culinary Institute of America, and the New School of Cooking, plus hundreds of recreational classes at schools across the country.  Her website (cindymushet.com) offers links to her videos and books, as well as recipes, baking tips, and information on upcoming classes. 

Her latest book, Baking Kids Love, will be released in September 2009 and was written with her 11-year old daughter, which means it’s full of fun, kid-accessible recipes that the whole family will love. 

Her most recent book, The Art and Soul of Baking (Andrews McMeel 2008) won the prestigious IACP award for Best Baking Book in 2008, and was also a finalist in the baking category for a James Beard award.  The book was chosen from among thousands of books by Gourmet Magazine for its October 2008 issue Cookbook Club pick.   

Her first book, Desserts: Mediterranean Flavors, California Style, was published by Scribner in 2000.  For five years she wrote and published the highly regarded “Baking With The American Harvest,” a quarterly baking journal with subscribers nationwide.  She was also a contributing writer to The Joy of Cooking, The Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies, and The Baker’s Dozen Cookbook.  Her recipes and articles have been featured in Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Gourmet Magazine, Country Home and The New York Times, among others.  Her recipes were among the few to be chosen for inclusion in The Best American Recipe books (Houghton Mifflin), including the recently published 125 Best American Recipes of the Last 10 Years. 

Cindy is a regular guest on KCRW’s Good Food radio show, and has been a guest chef at food conferences around the country.  She founded the San Diego chapter of The Baker’s Dozen.  She helped to organize and moderate the first annual Worlds of Flavor Baking and Pastry Retreat at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley.  She is a long-standing member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, as well as a member of The Baker’s Dozen San Francisco and Slow Food.  She received her culinary diploma from Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco, and in addition holds a degree in Anthropology from UCLA, a certificate in Marketing from UCLA, and a certificate in Sustainable Agriculture from UC Davis.